Bracknell company Promat Glasgow Ltd fined for safety failings

A manufacturing firm based in Bracknell has been fined for serious safety failings after a worker was badly hurt after his arm caught between a conveyor belt and a roller.

Gordon Blackwood, then a member of staff at Promat Glasgow Ltd, which has its HQ in Eastern Avenue, Bracknell, suffered a compound fracture to his wrist and tendon damage to two fingers in the incident in August 2012.

The incident left Mr Blackwood needing to have a metal plate inserted in his wrist and he still suffers pain in his wrist and fingers as a result.

He was working with a colleague cleaning the conveyor belt in the press area of the company’s factory in Glasgow, which makes fire retardant boards.

His colleague had gone into a cabin to re-start the conveyor belt.

Mr Blackwood, then aged 43, spotted some mix on the moving belt that had been missed.

When he tried to scrape it off using his gloved right hand, his hand was pulled into an in-running nip point - the gap between the roller and underside of the conveyor belt.

Company had failed to identify the hazard

An investigation by the Health and Safety Executive found the company had assessed the risks of various tasks in the factory.

But it had failed to identify the hazard from the in-running nip-point on the conveyor belt.

As a result, there were no control measures in place, such as safety guards, to prevent workers gaining access to the danger zone.

Glasgow Sheriff Court was told on Thursday, March 26 the cleaning cycle required the operators to start a cleaning programme on the computer in the press cabin, after which the machine would be stopped and the operator could then go into the press area to hose the belt down and clean off any spilled mix.

The operator would then go back into the cabin to run a ‘felt’ wash programme, where they would keep an eye on the felt to ensure it was tracking correctly.

Mr Blackwood and his colleague had noticed the belt was not running centrally and his colleague went into the press room to realign it.

They signalled to each other before the machine was switched on, but Mr Blackwood then spotted the spilled mix and tried to clear it off.

After the incident, the company installed a fixed guard around the nip-point.

Firm fined £4,000

The company was fined £4,000 after admitting a charge of breaching Regulation 11(1) and (2) of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998.

“The dangers of nip points, or the gaps between a moving belt and a stationary part of a machine, are well-known.

“Promat Glasgow Limited should have carried out a full assessment of the risks to workers for all the tasks involved in the production of the insulation boards. That would have identified the hazards in the press area and the right action, such as introducing guards, could have been added as necessary.

“As a result of the company’s failings, Mr Blackwood suffered injuries to his right arm which still cause him problems.”